Leaders I found this little gem here, what are your thoughts, and please no one-liners!

2014-12-20T00:11:56-05:00

http://www.avvo.com/legal-guides/ugc/reprimands-the-armys-dirty-little-secret

REPRIMANDS: THE ARMY’S DIRTY LITTLE SECRET

BLUF: The Armys administrativereprimand process is broken, fundamentally unfair, and should be substantiallyoverhauled.The Army Reprimand System: Broken and Abused AGeneral Officer Memorandum of Reprimand -- GOMOR -- is the kiss of death in aSoldiers Official Militar...

Response by SGM Erik Marquez made Dec 20 at 2014 12:19 AM

2014-12-20T00:19:25-05:00

My response, sounds like it was written by a defense lawyer, or someone how received a GOMAR.

All of the cases I know of where a GOMAR was issued were deserved.. no question.
It was a case of someone that could not be punished by way of UCMJ (off post DUI where the case was handled off post) or someone that was GETTING A BREAK.... ie COULD have been punished by UCMJ, but the commander instead chose a GOMAR.
Has the GOMAR been used inappropriately? Of course.. like anything else it can be abused and like anything else there are Leaders that choose to do the wrong thing... But that said, I've not seen it in my 29 years from Pvt to DIV G3 SGM

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 20 at 2014 12:33 AM

2014-12-20T00:33:51-05:00

Don't GOMARs go away after your current billet? How do these differ from a Letter of Concern, such as the Chaplain that included Bible verses in his Suicide Awareness presentation recently

Response by CW2 Bob Searle made Mar 2 at 2015 6:18 PM

2015-03-02T18:18:43-05:00

Having been on the receiving end of the cowardly career-killer, I can say that COL Stockdale is 100% correct. The problem isn't the issuer, but the fact the issuer or 'authority' given isn't conducive to good order, or more importantly keeping the rights of the accused in any perspective.
The other services keep the law and DOD policy, however, the Army does not. The Navy/Marine Corps do not have 'administrative' reprimands, they must be part of punishment, given as punishment, and rights afforded the accused. The Air Force on the other hand does allow for filing in 'performance' records, but once filed has a two year life span, the reason of course is 'administrative' measures are solely for correction of behavior, not punishment. Because, as the Colonel pointed out, there is no procedural or legal method of issuing a GOMOR, the Army uses them to punish soldiers without having the evidence required for Courts Martial. This is tantamount to slander, no more, no less. What's worse is the DASEB being Colonels have no guidance as to the conduct of justice, but whether or not the soldier asking for relief is going to be on the chopping block.

E.g. GOMOR instructs Officer to evaluate his conduct and take appropriate measures. States no 'intended purpose' in the GOMOR. DASEB then reads 'intended purpose' into the GOMOR and Officer (no matter what the veracity of the "charges" are) is screwed.

I could write a LOR for a soldier with no evidence the soldier did anything, send it up with a recommendation it be placed in their performance fiche, and as long as the GO buys off (of course with a prejudiced chain of command) it goes into the performance section OPMF and voila, soldier screwed for whatever is left of their career.

As there is no investigative requirement, titling (like CID or MPI must do), or clear instruction of the construction of the GOMOR, such as clearly delineating the 'purpose' and 'time specific' filings without which, there is no due process. As such, AR 600-37 should be eliminated.